TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- As Nick Saban and many other coaches say during times when perspective is lost for the sake of instant gratification, college football in its current state is merely a reflection of our "microwave" society.

What's happening NOW is all that matters. What happens in the future is an afterthought and what's happened in the past is ancient history.

This sort of mindset is what bothers those on both sides of the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry when it's discussed as a potential casualty in the SEC's ongoing quest to figure out a conference schedule that makes sense for all 14 of its teams.

On Monday, Saban was simply the latest to provide a reminder that the rivalry, historically, has been much more competitive than it has the past three years, when Alabama won each time by 31 points.

"When people talk about
scheduling and imbalances in scheduling,
they make the assumptions that certain teams are always good," Saban said. "We played
Tennessee for years and years around here where they were one of the
best teams in the SEC, and would certainly be characterized as one of
those teams.

"You can't make assumptions on the
way things are present day. You've got to look at the whole body."

Let's analyze that body for a second.

Alabama leads the all-time series 49-38-7. It's one win away from its seventh in a row, a streak that would match the second-longest in the series' history. The only longer stretch came when the Crimson Tide won 11 straight from 1971-1981.

Tennessee beat Alabama nine out of 10 times from 1995-2004 and notched four-game winning streaks on both ends of the Crimson Tide's 11-year run in 70s and early 80s.

Of the SEC's permanent cross-divisional pairings over the past 10 years, only the Auburn-Georgia series has favored one team more than Alabama-Tennessee, as each series has seen one side win seven of the past 10. The betting line on Alabama's past 10 games against the Vols has seen the Crimson Tide favored by an average of 6.6 points -- the largest average spread among the six permanent pairings.

"I
understand the magnitude of that game and I respect everything that
Alabama has," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said during the SEC's Spring Meetings. "But also for us to make it a rivalry game, we've got to
start winning a few of those games as well."

Jones might not realize it, but he very well could have the biggest impact of anyone when it comes to keeping the rivalry alive.

The Vols' win last week against South Carolina -- coupled with a near win earlier in the month against Georgia -- injected some much-needed juice into this matchup. Tennessee's players have talked confidently throughout the week, saying they weren't intimidated by "the red team." Alabama's players have talked openly about how much they enjoy the rivalry's tradition and laughed about the cigar-smoke filled memories that have emerged from the recent beatdowns.

Thanks mostly to a weak SEC schedule, the game is back in CBS' mid-afternoon time slot for the first time since 2009. Though the Crimson Tide is a four-touchdown favorite, ESPN's Kirk Herbstriet put Alabama on "upset alert."

This is important because of the perception it creates during a time when the SEC's athletics directors are coming together and weighing scheduling formats for 2016 and beyond.

The SEC is sticking with its 6-1-1 model -- which features one permanent cross-divisional rival and one rotating cross-divisional opponent -- through the 2015 season, but everything remains on the table for the future. That includes a nine-game conference schedule, which Saban and Alabama athletics director Bill Battle endorse, or the elimination of permanent cross-divisional rivalries, which LSU coach Les Miles and others strongly endorse.

Miles' Tigers drew Georgia as its rotating SEC East opponent to pair with Florida, its permanent foe, as its two non-divisional games. It appeared to be the toughest possible draw of any team in the conference, but look at it now through this instantaneous, hot-take perspective. Texas A&M and Ole Miss are the SEC West teams tasked with playing the SEC East's best team (Missouri) -- not LSU.

"History says that we
have a lot of teams in the SEC that are capable of being very, very
good," Saban said. "And I think you're seeing some of that emerge this year."